Sheehan v. Ford Motor Company

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 SHANNON SHEEHAN, Case No.: 3:24-cv-01628-W-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION TO CONTINUE EARLY 13 v. NEUTRAL EVALUATION 14 FORD MOTOR COMPANY, CONFERENCE 15 Defendant. [ECF No. 15] 16 17 Before the Court is the parties’ joint motion to continue the Early Neutral Evaluation 18 Conference (“ENE”) currently scheduled for December 9, 2024. ECF No. 15. 19 Parties seeking to continue an ENE must demonstrate good cause. ECF No. 5 20 at 6–7 (“An ENE may be rescheduled only upon a showing of good cause”); Chmb.R. at 2 21 (stating that any request for continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the 22 request”); see FED. R. CIV. P. 6(b) (“When an act may or must be done within a specified 23 time, the court may, for good cause, extend the time”). “Good cause” is a non-rigorous 24 standard that has been construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. 25 Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause 26 standard focuses on the diligence of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and 27 the reasons for seeking modification. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 28 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992). 1 Here, the parties represent to the Court that Plaintiff has a mandatory work training 2 on the same date and time as the ENE. ECF No. 15 at 2. Plaintiff was notified of this 3 training on December 4, 2024, and the training cannot be rescheduled. Id. “Plaintiff 4 understands that she is an integral party to the case and any settlement discussions, and 5 wishes to adequately resolve this case at the earliest opportunity[,]” and therefore the 6 parties request that the ENE be continued. Id. The parties explain that, while Plaintiff is 7 available on December 18—a date provided by court staff that is presently available on 8 Judge Goddard’s calendar—Defendant’s representative is not available on that date due to 9 an ENE before another Magistrate Judge in this district. Id. at 2–3. 10 The Court appreciates the parties’ thorough motion and that the parties are working 11 together, and finds good cause to GRANT the joint motion. The Court ORDERS as 12 follows: 13 1. The ENE set for December 9, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. is RESET for 14 January 23, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. via videoconference before Magistrate Judge 15 Allison H. Goddard. In accordance with the Local Rules, the Court requires attendance of 16 all parties, party representatives, including claims adjusters for insured defendants, and the 17 primary attorney(s) responsible for the litigation via videoconference. CivLR 16.1(c)(1). 18 2. The Court is cognizant that the parties’ Confidential ENE Statements were 19 due on November 20, 2025. See ECF No. 5. However, with the delay in holding the ENE, 20 the Court orders the following: 21 A. Counsel for the parties must meet and confer again regarding 22 settlement in person, via videoconference, or by phone by January 13, 2025. 23 B. The parties must submit Supplemental Confidential ENE Statements to 24 the Court via email (not filed) (to efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov) by January 16, 2025. 25 These statements shall not be filed or served on opposing counsel. The Updated ENE 26 Statement is limited to five (5) pages or less. There is not a page limit on exhibits. 27 i. The Court may use GenAI tools to review the information that 28 the parties submit. Either party may object to the Court’s use of 1 such tools by advising the Court’s law clerk of that objection 2 when they submit the information. The Court will respect that 3 objection without any further explanation, and the Court’s law 4 clerk will only communicate to Judge Goddard that there was an 5 objection, not which party made the objection. 6 C. No later than January 16, 2025, counsel for each party shall send an 7 || updated e-mail to the Court at efile_goddard @casd.uscourts.gov containing the following: 8 1. The name and title of each participant, including all parties 9 and party representatives with full settlement authority, claims 10 adjusters for insured defendants, and the primary attorney(s) 11 responsible for the litigation; 12 li. An e-mail address for each participant to receive the Zoom 13 video conference invitation; 14 iii. A telephone number where each participant may be reached; 15 and 16 iv. Acell phone number for that party’s preferred point of 17 contact (and the name of the individual whose cell phone it is) 18 for the Court to use during the ENE to alert counsel via text 19 message that the Court will soon return to that party’s Breakout 20 Room, to avoid any unexpected interruptions of confidential 21 discussions. 22 3. All of the procedures and attendance requirements set forth in the Court’s 23 || original Order Setting ENE (ECF No. 5) remain unchanged. 24 IT IS SO ORDERED. 25 Dated: December 5, 2024 06 _ Siow. Xion Honorable Allison H. Goddard 27 United States Magistrate Judge 28